Authorities have detained Bishop Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou: he had been freed at the beginning of November after a previous arrest. Most Rev. Cui Tai, bishop of Xuanhua, has also disappeared. He had been under house arrest for more than ten years, and there are suspicions of torture.
Newsroom (28/11/2021 09:41, Gaudium Press) (11/04/2022 09:41, Gaudium Press), Before the Easter holidays, the Chinese Communist regime began a new clampdown against the “unofficial” (underground) Church, recognized by the Vatican but not by Beijing.
On April 7, the authorities forced Msgr. Shao Zhumin, bishop of Wenzhou (Zhejiang), to board a flight. The local faithful is worried because they do not know where their pastor is at the moment; police have also reportedly confiscated his cell phone. The suspicion is that the government wanted to prevent him from celebrating the functions of Holy Week, especially the Chrism Mass.
Some time ago, the police had also arrested the secretary of the diocese Jiang Sunian, but he has since returned. This is not the first time that the police have arrested Bishop Shao, making him disappear for months at a time. At the beginning of November, he was released after being detained for several days. He is often subjected to sessions to coerce him into joining the “official” Church, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Meanwhile, in the diocese of Xuanhua (Hebei), before the January Lunar New Year, the authorities seized more than ten religious, including Bishop Augustine Cui Tai (under house arrest for more than ten years) and his deputy Zhang Jianlin. At the moment, there is no news on their eventual release.
The crackdown on the local diocese is explained by the unprecedented tensions in the area of Zhangjiakou, which hosted several competitions of the recent Winter Olympics in Beijing. In the eyes of the government, the Catholic Church represented a destabilizing factor.
The Holy See founded the diocese of Xuanhua in 1946, but in 1980 the government established the official diocese of Zhangjiakou, joining the dioceses of Xuanhua and Xiwanzi. However, the diocese of Zhangjiakou is not recognized by the Holy See.
In addition to the ever-present pressure to accept the authority of the Catholic Patriotic Association – an expression of the CCP – the Chinese government is reportedly seeking news about Msgr. Zhao Kexun, who died in 2018 and until then was the ordinary bishop of Xuanhua. After a raid in 2007, he lived in hiding in a secret location to avoid problems with the authorities.
Police reportedly tortured Msgr. Cui and several priests to obtain information about Msgr. Zhao, including where he is buried. For the Diocese of Xuanhua, this situation is an unprecedented disaster. Many bishops and priests have been arrested and have not been released. The faithful are not receiving pastoral care. News stories circulating on the internet defame and slander the Underground Church.
The signing in 2018, and renewal in October 2020, of the Sino-Vatican Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops, has not stopped the persecution of its members, especially the unofficial ones.
(Via Aisanews.it)
Compiled by Raju Hasmukh
